Channel hopper: Champions League, STV

Published on Friday 23 October 2009 23:15

RANGERS supporters without access to satellite television may suddenly be grateful that the ongoing dispute between STV and ITV has blacked out any live terrestrial coverage of their club's Champions League fixtures this season.

In negotiating their new contract with Uefa earlier this year, ITV did not obtain an opt-out clause which would have allowed STV to show all three of Rangers' away matches on Wednesday nights in Group G live.

As a consequence, Sky Sports, who already had the rights to Rangers' Tuesday night games in the competition, obtained exclusive live coverage of their Wednesday outings by default.

It is just one strand of a major row between STV and their London overlords which last month saw ITV launch a 38 million lawsuit against them for dropping major prime time programmes such as The Bill and Doc Martin. One of the other dramas STV have refused to show is Blue Murder, although they could easily have applied that title to their highlights coverage this week of Rangers' humiliating 4-1 defeat by Unirea Urziceni.

More than 24 hours after the calamitous events for Walter Smith and his team at Ibrox, STV began an extensive Champions League highlights programme with 30 minutes of the remarkable triumph for Dan Petrescu's previously unheralded Romanian title holders.

Presented by Rob MacLean, it is the second part of STV's retaliatory Wednesday night opt-out from ITV1's Champions League coverage. Earlier in the evening, MacLean anchored the live transmission of Chelsea's match against Atletico Madrid.

Carlo Ancelotti's team are the only Blues you will see live on STV this season but the beleaguered broadcaster is at least making an effort to put a Scottish spin on its Champions League programming.

"Your essential Wednesday night Champions League coverage is, as ever, on STV," declared MacLean, stretching credibility ever so slightly, at the start of the night. His guest in the Glasgow studio was Terry Butcher, the Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager reprising his partnership with MacLean which was a staple feature of Setanta Sports' SPL coverage before their demise earlier this year.

The pair briefly discussed the dramatic events of the evening before at Ibrox, trailing the later highlights programme, before turning their attention to the action in hand at Stamford Bridge.

Instead of ITV1's regular commentary team of Clive Tyldesley and Jim Beglin, STV viewers had the action described by two more casualties of the Setanta bankruptcy, Ian Crocker and Craig Burley.

It was not clear if Crocker and Burley were actually at Stamford Bridge or merely working from the Glasgow studio. STV's current financial plight would hint at it being the latter. Nonetheless, the consummate Crocker and acerbic Burley called the action perfectly. It is unlikely, certainly, that any Scottish viewer would be unhappy at being deprived of Tyldesley.

As Chelsea recorded an ultimately comprehensive 4-0 win, although not without a few uncertain moments along the way, there was little opportunity for Crocker to indulge in any parochial references for his Scottish audience.

He did supply one, however, when Atletico substitute Maxi Rodriguez made his second-half appearance, reminding us that the forward scored the only goal for Argentina against Scotland at Hampden earlier this year in Diego Maradona's first game in charge.

Little more than half an hour after wrapping up the live coverage, MacLean and Butcher were back for the marathon highlights show. While majoring on Rangers' defeat by Unirea, the commentary provided by Jock Brown, this was a comprehensive programme which featured all 49 goals from the 16 Champions League matches played on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Excellent production work, for which former Setanta head producer Colin Davidson is responsible, saw MacLean and Butcher work their way seamlessly through each group in entertaining and easily watchable fashion.

They will have it all to do again on the remaining three Wednesday night matchdays. While Rangers' fate is on the line against Unirea in Bucharest on 4 November, STV will be showing live coverage of Liverpool's assignment in Lyon.

In justifying their failure to secure the opt-out with Uefa for STV to show Rangers' matches live, an ITV spokesman said: "We are a commercial broadcaster for the whole UK and the predominant factor is which game is going to have the greatest appeal to our audience."